My Lovely Journey – K-drama Episode 2 Recap & Review

The Review Geek

a day ago

The First Step
Episode 2 of My Lovely Journey begins with O Sang-sik heading home and crossing paths with aspiring director (and last episode's editor in-suite) Lee Yeon-seok. Unfortunately, he's been let go after outing Song's behaviour, but he's working on a film script on the side.
Sang-sik is intrigued and wants to see the script, but they're interrupted by Yeo Reum showing up. These are scenes we missed last episode, contextualizing what made her choose to leave in the first place. She shows up at the café, speaks to Sang-sik, and asks to leave with the camera and Manager Hwang for styling and make-up.
While Sang-sik inflicts his tough love outside, Yeon-seok watches all of this transpire from inside. He likens them to a father/daughter dynamic, and can see the pain with both of them after this argument.
In the past, Yeo Reum was a bright girl and always aspired to do more. When she promised her father she'd get a boat to Seoul and do more with her life, he told her never to come home until she's a success.
Yeo Reum left Hwado and immediately found life punching her in the mouth. Teary-eyed, she phones phone at a booth, pleading with her dad to let her return but he refused, telling her to stick it out.
This gives more weight to Sang-sik's words too, as she eventually finds herself facing that same crossroads again here, needing to stick it out and try to find her way. Inside the envelope she's given a ticket to Makpo but at the station, she winds up talking to a woman who recognizes the beads on her bracelet. They get talking about Buyeo and Yeo Reum eventually decides to go there.
The sweet old lady explains that she needs to go to Daejeon first then transfer to a bus heading over to Buyeo. Alternatively, she can get a bus leading right there but it does take a while. She chooses the latter, and starts to get into the rhythm of her first trip.
At the bus station, Janghang, the place is lashing it down with rain so she takes refuge in the nearby convenience store. We cut across to Sang-sik inthe middle of this though, who's shocked and panicked when he finds out Yeo Reum hasn't gone home.
Yeo Reum's phone has run out of charge, and inside the shop, asks the cashier to charge her phone. However, the guy recognizes her and snaps her photo, uploading it online. She's also quite clumsy and spills her noodles on the floor, bringing more attention to herself.
When the cashier asks whether she's a former idol, Yeo Reum gets spooked and hurries out the room. She winds up in a restaurant where the owner cooks her a delicious meal. However, its here where she realizes she's left her phone behind in the shop.
Yeon-seok rings the shop and worries the cashier, warning not to take the phone or steal it as he has location tracking and can see precisely what he's doing. However, as fate would have it, his grandma actually owns the restaurant that Yeo Reum is in! What are the odds!
When the grandma notices her prayer bead bracelet, she mentions how the knots are tied in a familiar way over at Muryangsa Temple. She encourages Yeo Reum to go take a look, but on her way out, her grandson cheekily manages to get her number too.
Yeo Reum gets into the swing of things here, taking photos and videos for Kate as she walks through the Muryangsa trail. Although its only been one day, she's already starting to feel more confident in herself and liberated with this newfound freedom.
However, things take an awkward turn when she notices Kate show up, speaking Korean, and telling her she can't take photos. It's all very weird, especially as she tries to chase after her and she disappears.
Yeo Reum ends her trip, where Sang-sik is there to greet her. He reprimands her, scolding Yeo Reum for not listening to him. He explains that she needs to keep fighting but also to understand when a door closes, another opens and she can switch up and try something else. As long as she doesn't throw the towel in, she can keep finding her purpose.
The Episode Review
So My Lovely Journey closes out its debut weekend with a decent couple of episodes. There's nothing particularly outstanding about this drama just yet, but there's enough in this to stick with for the time being.
The premise is very much centering around Yeo Reum's healing journey, and even seeing her start to enjoy the nature and become more in tune with her own surroundings and feelings is a nice way of capturing what a solo trip can do for you.
However, beyond that there's not too much to cling to right now. This is a super chill and quite low-stakes drama, all things considered. We still don't have much more context around Eun-chae, and we don't know why Kate has decided that Yeo Reum should head out on this trip either.
With only 10 episodes to play with, lets hope we get some answers in the episodes ahead.
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Expect A Full Season Write-Up When This Season Concludes!